Battle Log
Sunday 11 February 2024
Posted 11 February 2024, 1:42 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
It’s the end of another week of outreach! I haven’t been sleeping so well this week, and so I'm feeling tired. Because of this I ended up only making it to 1 of the 4 usual street outreaches this week and doing more online outreach instead.
Speaking of online outreach, check on the encouraging screen shot. That was taken from an Instagram direct message.
And speaking of images. I really like the one I’ve included from the single street outreach I was involved with: on Friday at the Bridge of remembrance. Can you spot the gospel conversation? And in the other picture, can you spot the orange cone? Christchurch was famous for these, being everywhere during the big Earthquakes (well over a decade ago now, wow, time sure goes fast).
Anyway, let me report on Friday’s outreach. Andy, John and I were out for 2 hours in the afternoon.
I decided I was going to be bolder than usual in who I approached. Because, we can so easily fall into the trap of approaching the people who are more likely to have a chat, where in fact we have no idea who will be interested and willing. I need the reminder to not fear man, but to fear and honour Jesus. He deserves the reward of his suffering.
I initially paired up with Andy. I had a couple of short chats to start. The first was with a Christian gentleman, who didn’t do so well in the initial check question. He was nice, but sadly didn’t have the time to stay and talk. He left with a tract. The next was with a young man who had just picked up 2 handfuls of hired suits for a wedding. He obviously had places to be, and so I knew this chat would be very short. And glory to God, that short time wasn’t wasted. He was familiar with the truths of Jesus, but needed essential clarity. A couple of well placed check questions were revealing and challenging to him. I wanted to take the suits and chuck them, so we could sit down and have a good chat, but instead, we gave him 2 types of tracts, and told him to get in touch if he wanted to discuss further. We left him in God’s hands.
My 3rd opportunity was difficult, the lady was resistant from the get go due to her entrenched worldview. I gently tried to point out inconsistencies, but due to her closedness, this only irritated her. Andy ended up taking over, and the chat ended soon after.
John was with us by this stage. Andy got into a chat with a couple from Japan / France (speaking of France, we had at least 3 interactions with people who spoke French - if only we had more French speakers with us! ;) ). Due to language issues, that chat was a bit slow, so I ended up peeling off to get into other chats.
I had a great chat with a young couple. It was great, because of their openness, I was able to take them through the whole suite of check questions.
John and I then had a chat with another young couple. This time they were closed, taking an atheistic standpoint. He talked, she listened. I sparred with him for a while, before John took over and took the conversation to the law and gospel.
To finish the day, I had a great chat with a young lady. She had grown up in various cultures, having been adopted, and so wasn’t clear on what religion was right. She came to hear the law and the gospel, and even accepted a gospel of John at the end.
Even though I didn’t go out on Sunday afternoon, Mike did, he said he had a really good convo during the hour he was out. Glory to God! Well done Mike, thank you for your service and labour.
Edit: Here is what Mike said: About 20 minutes in a lady came over to talk about Gus [Mike's dog].. she owned a schnauzer, and turns out she was a believer and had been praying for God to show her someone to minister too. Shortly after that, a guy named John came up to the chart and wanted to talk. He had many doubts and didn't understand the gospel at all. He had been to some large churches and heard many conflicting things, but not a proper gospel. So this lady (Rachel) and myself went through the flip chart checking questions with him for 45 minutes and had a deep conversation, talking about justification and sanctification and the role of the Holy Spirit. It was a very timely conversation for him. Please pray for him as he starts to explore the gospels for himself!
And thank you for your prayer and support; thanks for reading to this point, and putting up with the fact that I never proofread what I write! Haha. Go serve your king!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (4 February 2024)
Christchurch (NZ) Team
Weekly outreaches:
Tue 3:30pm - 5:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Fri 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (Bridge of Remembrance)
Sat 11am - 1pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St).
Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.